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PRESENTED BY 
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The baptism with the Holy | 
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BAPTISM WITH THE 
HOLY SRIRIT 


BY R. A. TORREY | 


Supt. of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. 


How TO BRING MEN TO CHRIST. 12mo, 
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BAPTISM WITH THE. 
HOLY SPIRIT 


BY’ 


R. A. TORREY 


Author of ‘ How to Bring Men to Christ,’”” ‘‘ Vest Pocket 
Companion,”’ etc., etc. 


“Wait for the promise of the Father..—Acts 13 4. 

“Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days 
hence."—Acts 1:5. 

“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you.’—Acts 1: 8. 

“For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that 
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him.” 
—Acts 11: 39, R. V. 


FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


NEW YORK .. CHICAGO. *.".. ‘TORONTO 
Publishers of Evangelical Literature. 


Copyrighted 1895 and 1&7, by Fleming Fi. Revell Company. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION . ; ; ; A ; 


CHapTeER I. THe BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY 
SPIRIT: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT 
DOES e 8 e . es @ 


CHAPTER II. THE NECESSITY AND Possi- 
BILITY OF THE BAPTISM WITH THE 
Hoty Spirit ; : ‘ : 

CHaptTer III. How tHe Baptism wItTH 
THE Hoty SPIRIT CAN BE OBTAINED. 


CHAPTER IV. ‘“ FRESH BAPTISMS WITH THE 
Houy Spirit,” OR THE REFILLING 


WITH THE HOoLy SPIRIT ‘ 3 


CuHapTrer V. How SPIRITUAL POWER IS 
Lost : : ‘ 5 A 


25 


37 


63 


66 


INTRODUCTION 


It was a great turning point in my ministry, 
when, after much thought and study and medi- 
tation, I became satisfied that the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit was an experience for to-day and 
for me, and set myself about obtaining it. Such 
blessing came to me personally, that I began 
giving Bible readings on the subject, and with 
increasing frequency as the years have passed. 
God in His wondrous grace has so greatly blessed 
these readings, and so many have asked for them 
in printed form, convenient for circulation among 
their friends, that I have decided to write them 
out in full for publication. It is an occasion of 
ereat joy that so many and such excellent books 
on the person and work of the Holy Spirit have 
appeared of late. I wish to call especial attention 
to two of these: “Through the Eternal Spirit,” 
by James Elder Cumming and “The Spirit of 
Christ,” by Andrew Murray. 

In the following pages I speak uniformly of 
the Holy Spirit, but in the quotations from the 
Bible retain the less desirable phraseology there 
used— The Holy Ghost ”—except in those in- 

7 


8 INTRODUCTION 


stances where the translators themselves varied 
their usage. Probably most of the readers of 
this book already know that “the Holy Spirit ” 
and “the Holy Ghost” are simply two different 
translations of precisely the same Greek words. 
It seems very unfortunate, and almost unac- 
countable, that the English revisers did not fol- 
low the suggestion of the American Committee, 
and, for “Holy Ghost”, adopt uniformly the 
rendering “ Holy Spirit.” 


THE BAPTISM WITH THE 
HOPG SED 


CHAPTER I 


THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHAT IT 


IS AND WHAT IT DOES 


While a great deal is said in these days con- 
cerning the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, it is 
to be feared that there are many who talk about 
it and pray for it, who have no clear and definite 
idea of what it is. But the Bible, if carefully 
studied, will give us a view of this wondrous 
blessing that is perfectly clear and remarkably 
definite. 

1. We find first of all, that there are a number 
of designations in the Bible for this one expert- 
ence. In Acts 1: 5, Jesus said, “ Ye shall be 
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days 
hence.” In Acts 2:4, when this promise was 
fulfilled, we read, ‘they were all filled with the 
Holy Ghost.” In Acts 1:4, the same experi- 


ence is spoken of as “the promise of the 
9 


10 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Father” and in Luke 24: 49 as “the promise of 
my Father,” and ‘“ endued power from on high.” 
By a comparison of Acts 10: 44, 45, 47 with Acts 
11: 15, 16, we find that the expressions “ the 
Holy Spirit fell on them” and “the gift of the 
Holy Ghost,” and “received the Holy Ghost” 
are all equivalent to “baptized with the Holy 
Ghost.” 

2. We find in the next place, that the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit is a definite expert- 
ence of which one may know whether he has 
received it or not. This is evident from our 
Savior’s command to the Apostles: ‘“‘Tarry ye 
in the city, until ye be endued with power 
from on high.” (Luke 24:49.) Unless this en- 
duement with power, or Baptism with the Holy 
Ghost, is an experience so definite that one can 
know whether he has received it or not, how 
could they tell when those commanded days of 
tarrying were at an end? The same thing is 
clear from Paul’s very definite question to the 
disciples at Ephesus. ‘Did ye receive. the 
Holy Ghost when ye believed?” (Acts 19: 2, R. 
V.) Paul evidently expected a definite “yes,” 
or a definite “no” for an answer. Unless the 
experience is definite, and of such a character 
that one can know whether he has received it or 
not, how could these disciples answer Paul’s 


ee 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 11 


question? In point of fact, they knew they had 
not “received,” or been “baptized with,” the 
Holy Ghost, and a short time afterward they 
knew they had “received,” or been “ baptized 
with,” the Holy Ghost. (Acts 19: 6.) Ask 
many a man to-day, who prays that he may be 
baptized with the Holy Ghost: “ Well, my 
brother, did you get what you asked? Were you 
baptized with the Holy Ghost?” and he would 
qe dumb-founded. He did not expect anything 
so definite that he could answer positively toa 
question like that, “ yes ” or “no.” But we find 
in the Bible none of that vagueness and indefi- 
niteness regarding this subject which we find 
in much of our modern prayer and speech. 
The Bible is a very definite book. It is very 
definite about salvation: so definite that a man 
who knows his Bible can say positively “ yes” 
or “no” to the question “are you saved.” It is 
equally definite about “the Baptism with the 
Holy Ghost:” so definite that a man who knows 
his Bible can say positively, “ yes,” or “no,” to 
the question, “ have you been baptized with the 
Holy Ghost.” There may be those who are 
saved who do not know it, because they do not 
understand their Bibles, but it is their privilege 
to know it. So there may be those who have 
been Baptized with the Holy Ghost, who do not 


12 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


know the Bible name for what has come to 
them, but it is their privilege to know. 

3. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a 
work of the Holy Spirit separate and distinct 
from His regenerating work. To be regen- 
erated by the Holy Spirit is one thing, to be 
baptized with the Holy Spirit is something dif- 
ferent, something additional. This is evident 
from Acts 1:5. There Jesus said: “ Ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days 
hence.” They where not then as yet “ baptized 
with the Holy Ghost.” But they were already 
regenerated. Jesus Himself had already pro- 
nounced them so. In John 15:3, He had said to 
the same men, “ Now are ye clean through the 
Word.” (Comp. Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23) and in 
Jno. 13: 10: “ Ye are clean, but not all,” except- 
ing, by the “but not all,” the one unregenerate 
man in the Apostolic company, Judas Iscariot, 
from the statement “ Yeare clean.” (See Jno. 13: 
11.) The Apostles, excepting Judas Iscariot, 
were then already regenerate men, but they 
were not yet “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” 
From this it is evident that regeneration is one 
thing, and that the baptism with the Holy 
Spirit is something different, something ad- 
ditional. One may be regenerated and still not 
yet be baptized with the Holy Ghost. The 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES es 


same thing is evident from Acts 8:12-16. Here 
we find a company of believers who had been 
baptized. Surely in this company of baptized 
believers there were some regenerate men. But 
the record informs us that when Peter and 
John came down they “prayed for them that 
they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet 
He was fallen upon none of them).” It is clear 
then that one may be a believer, may be a re- 
generate man, and yet not have the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit is something distinct 
from and beyond His regenerating work. Not 
every regenerate man has the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit, though as we shall see later, every 
regenerate man may have this Baptism. Ifa 
man has experienced the regenerating work of 
the Holy Spirit he is a saved man, but he is not 
fitted for service until in addition to this he has 
received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. 

But while the baptism with the Spirit is an 
operation of the Holy Spirit separate and dis- 
tinct from His regenerating work it may and 
often does occur simultaneously withit. Aman 
may be baptized with the Spirit the moment he 
is regenerated. It was so in the case of the 
household of Cornelius. It is so in the case of 
many to-day. It would be so in every case in a 


14 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


perfectly normal condition of the Church. The 
apostles expected that when men were convert- 
ed and regenerated they should also be baptized 
with the Holy Spirit at once and fitted for 1m- 
mediate service. (Eph. 1:13; R. V. Acts 3:38, : 
} Gor. 12:138;Acts 8:15, 16; 9:17; 19:2: BR. ¥) 
In some cases, as at Ephesus, (Acts19: 1-6) and 
Samaria, (Acts 8:12-16), because of inadequate 
instruction, or other reasons, this was not the 
case. The Ephesus or Samaria condition of af- 
fairs seems to be the prevailing condition to- 
day and we need to go about asking. . aul did 
at Ephesus ‘“‘ Have ye received the Holy Ghost 
since ye believed” (Acts 19: 2.), and insisting 
that regeneration is not enough but, that believ- 
ers must also be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

4, The baptism with the Holy Spirit is al- 
ways connected with testimony and service. 
Look carefully at every passage in which the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit is mentioned, and 
you willsee that it is connected with, and isfor the 
purpose of, testimony and service. (For exam- 
ple, Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4; 4:31, 33.) This will 
come out very clearly when we come to consid- 
er what the Baptism with the Holy Spirit does. 
The Baptism withthe Holy Spirit, is not an ex- 
perience that God grants to us merely to make 
us happy. It will indeed bring into our lives a 
joy such as we never knew before. But that is 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 15 


not its main purpose. The Baptism with the 
Spirit is not intended to make us happy but to 
make us effective. We should not look and long 
for ecstatic experiences, but for power and 
- efficiency for God. The Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit is not even primarily for the purpose of 
cleansing from sin, but for the purpose of empow- 
ering for service. There is a line of teaching, put 
forward by a very earnest but mistaken body of 
people, that has brought the whole doctrine of 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit into disre- 
pute, i... 3% this way: First proposition: there 
is a further experience (or second blessing) af- 
ter regeneration, namely, the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit. This proposition is true and can 
be easily proven from the Bible. Second pro- 
position: this Baptism with the Holy Spirit can 
be instantaneously received. This proposition 
is also true and can be easily proven from the 
Bible. Third proposition: this Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit is the eradication of the sinful 
nature. This proposition is untrue. Nota line 
of Scripture can be adduced to show that the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the eradica- 
tion of the sinful nature. The conclusion, viz., 
“the sinful nature can be instantaneously eradi- 
cated,” drawn from these three propositions, 


two true and one false, is necessarily false. The/- 


ae y 


: f= 
the purpose of cleansing from sin, but for the“* “A Ta 


16 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not primarily for 
purpose of empowering for service. It is indeed 
the work of the Holy Spirit to cleanse from sin. 
Further than this there is a work of the Holy 
Spirit where the believer is strengthened with 
might in the inner man: that Christ may dwell 
in his heart by faith ... that he might be filled 
unto all the fulness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19 R. 
V.) There is a work of the Holy Spirit of 
such a character that the believer is “ made free 
from the law of sin and death,” (Rom. 8:2) and 
through the Spirit does “mortify (put to death ) 
the deeds of the body.” (Rom. 8:18.) It is 
our privilege to so walk, daily and hourly, in the 
power of the Spirit, that the carnal nature is 
kept in the place of death. But this is not the 
Baptism with the Spirit, neither is it the erad- 
ication of the sinful nature. It is not some- 
thing done once for all, it is something that 
must be momentarily maintained. “ Walk in 
the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the 
flesh.” (Gal. 5:16.) | 

While insisting that the Baptism with the 
Spirit is primarily, for the purpose of em- 
powering for service, it should beadded that the 
Baptism is accompanied by a great moral uplift. 
It ought to mean and usually does means a trans- 
formed life as well as a transformed ministry. 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES a 


(See Acts 2: 44-46; 4:31-35.) This is neces- 
sarily so, from the steps one must take to obtain 
this blessing. Further than this we cannot for- 
get that one of the promises on this subject 
reads: “ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, 
and with fire.” (Matt. 3:11.) When we notice 
that here fire seems to be contrasted with water in 
the earlier part of the verse, itis hard to avoid 
the conclusion that the cleansing power of fire 
is partly in mind. If this be so, then the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit which is primarily an 
energizing process, is also a revealing, refining, 
) consuming, illuminating process, and one by 
which we are made to glow with love to God, 
and love to man, and love to souls. 

5. We will get a still clearer and fuller view 
of what the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is, if 
we will notice what this Baptism does. This is 
stated concisely in Acts 1:8. ‘Ye shall receive 
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you; and ye shall be witnesses,” etc. The 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit imparts “ power” 
power for service. This power will not manifest 
itself in precisely the same way in each indi- 
vidual. This is broughtout very clearly in 1 Cor, 
12:4-13, R.V.: “Now there are diversities of gifts 
but the same spirit. For to one is given, 
through the Spirit, the word of wisdom; and to 


18 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


another the word of knowledge, according to the 
same spirit; to another faith, in the same spirit; 
and to another gifts of healing, in the one Spirit; 
to another diverse kinds of tongues; but all 
these worketh the one and the same spirit, 
dividing to each one severally even as He will.” 
In my early study of the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit, I noticed that in many instances those 
who were so baptized “spoke with tongues,” 
and the question came often into mv mind: if 
one is baptized with the Holy Spirit \-ill he not 
speak with tongues? But I saw noone so speak- 
ing, and I often wondered, is there any one to-day 
who actually is baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
This twelfth chapter of Ist Corinthians cleared 
me up on that, especially when I found Paul 
asking of those who had been baptized with the 
Holy Spirit: “Do all speak with tongues?” 
(1 Cor. 12:30.) But I fell into another error, 
namely, that any one who received the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit would receive power as an 
evangelist, or as a preacher of the Word. This 
is equally contrary to the teaching of the chap- 
ter, that “there are diversities of gifts, but the one 
Spirit.” There are three eyils arising from _the 
mistake just mentioned. First, disappointment. 
Many will seek the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit, expecting power as an evangelist, but 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 19 


God has not called them to that work, and the 
power that comes from the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit manifests itself in another way in 
them. Many cases of bitter disappointment and 
almost despair have arisen from this cause. 
The second evil is graver than the first: pre- 
sumption. A man whom God has not called to 
the work of an evangelist, or minister, rushes 
into it because he has received, or thinks he 
has received, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. 
Many a man has said: “ All a man needs to suc- 
ceed as a preacher is the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit.” This is not true. He needs a call 
to that specific work, and he needs the study of 
the Word of God that will prepare him for the 
work. The third evil is still greater: indiffer- 
ence. There are many who know they are not 
called to the work of preaching. For example, 
a mother witha large family of children knows 
this. If then, they think that the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit simply imparts power to preach, 
it is a matter of no personal concern to them; 
but when we come to see the truth that, while 
the Baptism with the Spirit imparts power, the 
way in which that power will be manifested, 
depends upon the work to which God has called 
us, and that no efficient work can be done with- 
out it, then the mother will see that she equally 


20 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


with the preacher needs this Baptism—needs it 
for that most important and hallowed of all 
work, to bring up her children “in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord.” I have recently 
met avery happy mother. A few months agoshe 
heard of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, 
sought it and received it. “Oh,” she joyfully 
exclaimed as she told me the story, “Since I 
received it, I have been able to get into the 


| hearts of my children which I was never able to 


_ do before.” 

It is the Holy Spirit Himself who decides how 
the power will manifest itself in any given case: 
“the spirit dividing to each one severally even 
as He will.” (1 Cor. 12:11 R. V.) We have 
a right “to desire earnestly the greater gifts” 
(1 Cor. 12;31.), but the Holy Spirit is sover- 
eign, and He not we, must determine in the final 
issue. It is not for us then to select some gift, 
and then look to the Holy Spirit to impart the 
self-chosen gift; it is not for us to select some 
field of service and then look to the Holy Spirit 
to impart to us power in that field which we, and 
not He, have chosen. It is rather for us to rec- 
ognize ‘the Divinity and sovereignty of the 
Spirit, and put ourselves unreservedly at His 
disposal; for Him to select the gift that “He 
will” and impart to us that gift; for Him to 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 21 


select for us the field that “He will” and impart 
to us the power that will qualify us for the field 
He has chosen. I once knew a child of God, 
who, hearing of the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit and the power that resulted from it, gave 
up at a great sacrifice, the secular work in which 
he was engaged, and entered upon the work of 
an evangelist. But the expected power in that 
line did not follow. The man fell into great 
doubt and darkness, until he was led to see that 
the Holy Spirit divideth “to each one severally, 
even as He will.” Then giving up selecting his 
own field and gifts, he put himself at the Holy 
Spirit’s disposal for Him to choose. In the 
final outcome the Holy Spirit did impart to 
this man power as an evangelist and a preacher 
of the Word. We must then surrender our- 
selves absolutely to the Holy Spirit to work as 
He will. 

But, while the power that the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit brings, manifests itself in dif- 
ferent ways in different individuals, there will 
always be power. Just as surely as a man is 
baptized with the Holy Spirit there will be new 
power, a power not his own, “the power of the 
Highest!” Religious biography abounds in | 
instances of men, who have worked along as 
best they could, until one day they were led to | 


22 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


see there was such an experience as the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit, and to seek it and obtain 
it. From that hour there came into their service 
a new power that utterly transformed its charac- 
ter. Finney, Brainerd and Moody are a few of 
the many cases in point. Cases of this character 
are not confined to a few exceptional men, they 
are becoming common. The writer has personally 
met and corresponded with hundreds during the 
past twelve months, who could testify definitely 
to the new power that God had granted them 
through the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. 
These hundreds of men and women were in all 
branches of Christian service. Many of them 
were ministers of the gospel, others mission 
workers, others Y. M. C. A. secretaries, others 
Sunday-school teachers, others personal workers, 
others fathers and mothers. Nothing could 
exceed the clearness, confidence and joyfulness 
of many of these testimonies. What we have in 
promise in the words of Christ many have, and 
all may have, in glad experience: “ Ye shall 
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is 
come upon you.” 

6. There is another but closely related 
result of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit in 
Acts 4:31. “They were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with 


WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES 23 


boldness.” The Baptism with the Holy Spirit 
imparts to those who receive it new liberty and 
fearlessness in testimony for Christ. The same 
Peter, who before his baptism with the Holy 
Spirit, cowered at the maid’s charge that he was 
one of Jesus’ disciples (Jno. 18:17) after his 
baptism with the Holy Spirit, faces the very 
council that put Jesus to death and says: “The 
God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye 
slew and hanged upon a tree.” (Acts 5:30) 
The natural timidity and constraint of many a 
man to-day, vanishes when he is filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and with great boldness and liberty 
and fearlessness he gives his testimony for 
Christ. 

7. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit causes 
the one who receives it to be occupied with God 
and Christ and spiritual things. On the day of 
Pentecost it was “the mighty works of God,” 
(Acts 2:11) of which the Spirit-filled men and 
women spoke. Peter’s sermon on that day is all 
about Christ, and especially about His resurrec- 
tion. (Acts 2:22-36, compare also Acts 4: 8-10, 31, 
33). When Saul of Tarsus had been filled with 
the Holy Spirit, “straightway in the syna- 
gogues he proclaimed Jesus.” (Acts 9:17, 20). 
When Cornelius and his household were bap- 
tised with the Holy Spirit they began at once 


24 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to “magnify God ” (Acts 10: 44-46). Men who 
are baptized with the Holy Ghost do not talk 
much about self, but very much of God, and es- 
pecially about Christ. This is naturally so, as 
it is the Spirit’s office to ‘“ bear witness of” and 
‘“elorty? -Onrist, oe (Jno. 152 26;-Ric¥ «16z 14s) 
Paul says that the result of being “ filled with 
the Holy Spirit” is that men speak “to one 
another in psalms and hymns and _ spiritual 
songs, singing and making melody with their 
hearts to the Lord.” (Eph. 5: 18,19.) Worldly 
songs loose their charm to one who is baptized 
with the Holy Spirit; he is occupied with 
Christ. } 

To sum up the contents of this chapter: The 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of 
God coming upon the believer, taking possess- 
ion of his faculties, imparting to him gifts not 
naturally his own, but which qualify him for 
the service to which God has called him. 


CHAPTER II 


THE NECESSITY AND POSSIBILITY OF THE 


BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Shortly before Christ was received up into 
heaven, having committed the preaching of the 
gospel to His disciples, He laid upon them this 
very solemn charge concerning the beginning of 
the great work He had committed to their hands: 
“ Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father 
upon you; but tarry ye in the city, until ye be 
clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24: 
49, R. V.) There is no doubt as to what Jesus 
meant by the “ promise of my Father” for which 
they were to wait before beginning the ministry 
which He had intrusted to them; for in Acts I: 
4, 5, we read that Jesus “ charged them not to 
depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the prom- 
ise of the Father” which, said he, “Ye heard 
from me: for John indeed baptized with water: 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost 
not many days hence.” “The promise of the 
Father,” through which the enduement of pow- 


er was to come, was the Baptism with the Holy 
25 


26 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Spirit. (Comp. Acts 1:8). Christ then strict. 
ly charged His disciples not to presume to under- 
take the work to which He had called them until 
they had received as the necessary and all-essen 

tial preparation for that work, the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit. The men to whom Jesus 
said this, seemed to have already received very 
thorough preparation for the work in hand. They 
had been toschool to Christ Himself for more than 
three years, They had heard from His own lips 
the great truths that they were to proclaim to the 
world. They had been eye-witnesses of His mir- 
acles, of His death and of His resurrection and 
were about to be eye-witnesses of His ascension. 
The work before them was simply to go forth to 
proclaim what their own eyes had seen and what 
their own ears had heard from the lips of Christ 
Himself. Were they not fully prepared for this 
work? It would seem so to us. But Christ 
said: ‘No. You are so utterly unprepared you 
must not stir a step yet. There is a further 
preparation, so allessential to effective service, 
that you must abide at Jerusalem until you re- 
ceive it. This further preparation is the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit. When you receive that— 
and not wntil then—you will be prepared to begin 
the work to which I have called you.” If Christ 
did not permit these men, who had received so 


NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM ed 


rare and unparalleled a schooling for the work 
to which He had so definitely and clearly called 
them, to undertake this without receiving in 
addition to that the Baptism with the Holy Spir- 
it, what is it for us to undertake the work to 
which He has called us until we have received, 
in addition to any amount of schooling we may 
have had for the work, the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit? Is it not most daring presump- 
tion? 

But this is not all. In Acts 10: 38, we read 
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the 
Holy Ghost and with power: who went about 
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed 
of the devil.” When we look into the gospels for 
an explanation of these words, we find it in 
Puke. 21024015914, 15, 182s Wer find 
that at the Baptism of Jesus at Jordan as He 
prayed, the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Then, 
“full of the Holy Ghost,” He has the tempta- 
tion experience. Then, “in the power of Spirit,” 
He begins His ministry, and proclaims him- 
self “anointed to preach” because “the Spirit 
of the Lord is upon Him.” In other words, 
Jesus the Christ, never entered upon the 
ministry for which He came into this world 
until He was baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
If Jesus Christ, who had been supernaturally 


28 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


conceived through the Holy Spirit’s power, 
who was the only begotten Son of God, who 
was divine, very God of very God, and yet 
truly man; if such an one, “leaving us an exam- 
ple that we should follow in His steps,” did 
not venture upon the ministry for which the 
Father had sent Him until thus baptised with 
the Holy Ghost, what is it for us to dare to do 
it? If, in the light of these recorded facts, we 
dare to do it, it seems like an offence going be- 
yond presumption. Doubtless it has been done 
in ignorance by many, but can we plead igno- 
rance any longer? The Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit is an absolutely necessary prepar- 
ation for effective service for Christ along every 
line of service. We may have a very clear call 
to service, as clear it may be as the Apostles 
had, but the charge is laid upon us, as upon 
them, that before we begin that service we must 
“tarry until ye be clothed with power from on 
high.” This enduement with power is through 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. There are 
certainly few greater mistakes that we are mak- 
ing to-day, than that of setting men to teach 
Sunday-school classes, and do personal work, 
and even to preach the gospel, simply because 
they have been converted and received a certain 
amount of education—perhaps including a col- 


NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM 29 


lege and seminary course—but have not as yet 
been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Any man , 
who is in Christian work, who has not received | 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, ought to stop | 
his work right where he is, and not go on with 
it until he has been “clothed with power from | 
on high.” But what will our work do while we 
are waiting? What did the world do those ten. 
days while the early disciples were waiting? 
They alone knew the saving truth, yet, in obe- 
dience to the Lord’s command, they were silent. 
The world was no loser, When the power came 
they accomplished more in one day than they 
would have accomplished in years, if they had 
gone onin presumptuous disobedience to Christ’s 
charge; so will we after we have received the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit accomplish more 
in one day than we ever would in years without 
His power. Days spent in waiting, if it were 
necessary, would be well spent, but we shall see 
further on that there is no need that we spend 
days in waiting. It may be said that the Apos- 
tles had gone out on missionary tours during 
Christ’s lifetime before they were baptized with 
the Holy Spirit. This is true, but that was 
before the Holy Ghost was given, and before 
the charge, “tarry until ye be clothed with 
power from on high” was given. After that it 


30 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


would have been disobedience and presumption 
to have gone forth without this enduement, and 
we are living to-day after the Holy Ghost has 
been given and after the charge to “tarry until 
clothed” has been given. 

We come now to the question of the Possi- 
bility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Is 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit for us? This 
is a question that has a most plain and explicit 
answer in the Word of God. In Acts 2: 39, R. 
V., we read: “For to you is the promise, and 
to your children and to all that are afar 
off, even as many as the Lord our 
God shall call unto Him.” What is “the 
promise” of this passage? Turning back 
to the fourth and fifth verses of the preceding 
chapter we read: “ Wait for the promise of the 
Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. 
For John truly baptised with water; but ye 
shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence.” Again in the thirty-third 
verse of the second chapter we read: “ Having 
received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Ghost.” It would seem to be perfectly clear that 
“the promise ” of the thirty-ninth verse must be 
the same as “the promise” of the thirty-third 
verse and “the promise” of the fourth and fifth 
verses of the preceding chapter; 2. ¢., the prom- 


NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM 31 


ise of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. This 
conclusion is rendered absolutely certain by the 
context: “ Repent and be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the re- 
mission of your sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you is the 
promise,” etc. The promise then of this verse 
is the promise of the gift or Baptism with the 
Holy Ghost. (Comp. Acts 10:45 with Acts 11: 
15, 16, to prove that “the gift of the Holy 
Ghost” is the same as “the Baptism with the 
Holy Ghost.”) Who is this gift for? “To you,” 
says Peter to the Jews whom he was immedi- 
ately addressing. Then looking over their 
heads to the next generation, “ And to your 
children.” Then looking down all the coming 
ages of the Church’s history to Gentile as well 
as Jew: “And to all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him.” 
The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is for every 
child of God in every age of the Church’s his- 
tory. If it is not ours in experimental posses- 
sion, it is because we have not taken (the exact 
force of the word translated “ receive ” in verse 38 
is take) what God has provided for us in our ex- 
alted Savior. (Acts 2:33; Jno. 7: 38, 39.) A min- 
ister of the gospel once came to me after a lec- 
ture on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and 


a2 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


said: “The church to which I belong, teaches 
that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit was 
for the Apostolic age alone.” “It matters 
not,” was replied, “what the church to which 
you belong, or the church to which I belong, 
teaches. What says the Word of God?” Acts 
2:39 was read: “To you is the promise, and to 
your children, and to all that are afar off, even 
as many as the Lord our God shall call unto 
Him.” “Has He called you?” I asked. “Yes 
He certainly has.” “Is the promise for you?” 
“Yes, it is.” And it was. And it is for every 
child of God who reads these pages. What a 
thrilling thought it is that the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit, the enduement with power from 
on high is for us, is FOR ME individually! But 
that unspeakably joyous thought has its solemn 
side. If I may be baptized with the Holy 
Spirit I must be. If I am baptised with the 
Holy Spirit, then will souls be saved through 
my instrumentality who are not so saved if 
Iam not so baptised. If then I am not will- 
ing to pay the price of this Baptism, and 
therefore am not so baptised, I am respon- 
sible before God for all the souls that might 
have been saved, but were not saved, through 
me, because I was not baptised with the Holy 
Spirit. I oftentimes tremble for my brethren in 


NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM 33 


Christian work and myself. Not because we 
are teaching deadly error to men; some are 
guilty of even that, but I do not refer to that 
now. Not that we are not teaching the full 
truth as itis in Jesus. It must be confessed 
that there are many, who do not teach positive 
error, who do not preach a full gospel, but I do 
not refer to that. JI tremble for those who are 
preaching the truth, the truth as it is in Jesus, 
the gospel in its simplicity, in its purity, in its 
fulness, but preaching it “‘in persuasive words 
of wisdom” and not “in demonstration of the 
Spirity-and= of “power (1- Cor; 2:47 RK: V2); 
preaching it in the energy of the flesh and not 
in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is noth- 
ing more deadly than the gospel without the 
Spirit’s power. “The letter killeth, but the 
Spirit giveth life.” It is awfully solemn busi- 
ness preaching the gospel either from the pul- 
pit or in more quiet ways. It means death or 
life to those who hear, and whether it means 
death or life depends very largely on whether 


we preach it without or with the Baptigm with . 


the Holy Spirit. We must be baptized with 
the Holy Spirit. | 
Note 1. It is sometimes argued that “ the Baptism with 


the Holy Spirit” was forthe purpose of imparting miracle 
working power, and for the Apostolic age alone. In favor 


ye 


34 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


of this position it is asserted that the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit was followed quite uniformly by miracles. 
The untenableness of this position is seen: (1) By the 
fact, that Christ Himself asserted that the purpose of the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit was to impart power for 
witnessing—not especially power to work miracles, 
(Acts 1:5, 8; Luke 20748, 49.) (2) By the fact, that Paul 
distinctly taught that there were diversities of gift, and 
that “workings of miracles” wasonly one of the manifold 
manifestations of the Baptism with the Hvly Spirit. 
(Cor. 12: 4, 8-10.) (3) By the fact, that Peter distinctly 
asserts that “the gift of the Holy Ghost,” “ the promise,” 
is for all believers in all generations (Acts 2: 38, 39), and 
it is evident from a comparison of Acts 2: 39 with Luke 
24: 49; Acts 1: 4, 5; 2: 33, and of Acts 2:38 with Acts 10: 
45 and Acts 11:15, 16, that each of these two expressions, 
“the promise,” and “the gift of the Holy Ghost,” refers 
to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. If we take miracles 
in the broad sense of all results wrought by supernatural 
power, then it is true that each one baptized with the 
Holy Spirit does receive miracle-working power; for each 
one so baptized does receive a power not naturally his own: 
supernatural power, God’s own power. The result of the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit that was most noticeable and 
essential was convincing, convicting and converting 
power. (Acts 2:4, 37, 41. Acts 4:8-13. Acts 4:31, 33. 
Acts 9:17, 20-22.) There seem to have been no displays 
of miracle-working power immediately following Paul’s 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit, even though he became so 
singularly gifted in this direction at a later day—it was 
power to witness for Jesus as the Son of God that he re- 
ceived in immediate connection with the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17, 20-22.) 

Note 2. It is taught by some, that the Baptism with the 
Spirit is for the church as a whole and not for the individ- 
ual believer, and that the whole church was baptised at Pen- 


NECESSITY OF THE BAPTISM 35 


tecost, and that therefore it is unwarrantable for individual 
believers to-day to pray or seek for a baptism with the Spir- 
it. But the scriptures very clearly disprove this position. 
The record of Pentecost is that “it sat upon each one of 
them. (Acts 2:3, R. V.) Not on the Church collectively, 
but upon each believer individually. This position is 
further shown to be untenable by the fact that the 
Apostles inquired of individual churches and believers 
whether they had received the Holy Spirit, (Acts 8:15, 16; 
19:2,) and found, in some instances at least, that they 
had not, whatever the church as a whole may have re- 
ceived. 

Note 8. An eminent Bible teacher has these strange com- 
ments to make on Acts 8: “Ifthe Samaritan can believe and 
rejoice in that belief for some time without the gift of the 
Holy Spirit in his outward manifestations, if He cannot be 
so given except by the imposition of an apostle’s hands, 
is it not plain that the time has begun when He will no 
longer be present in His extraordinary displays? The 
twelve could not go the world over to lay hands on mil- 
lions.” We answer, no it is not plain at all. Indeed it 
contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture. Acts 19: 1-6, 
came long after (perhaps 17 years) Acts 8: 12-16. Fur- 
thermore, though the Samaritans did “believe and rejoice 
in that belief for some time without the gift of the Holy 
Spirit,” it was so important that they have it that this 
was the first and principal thing the apostles attended to 
upon their arrival. Further still the question itself con- 
tains a statement that is contrary to fact, viz: “‘He can- 
not be so given except by the imposition of an apostle’s 
hands.” In the case of Saul of Tarsus it was “a certain 
disciple ” who imposed his hands (Acts 9: 10, 17). In the 
case of the household of Cornelius there was no imposi- 
tion of hands at all (Acts 10: 44). It may be said “these 
instances are exceptional.” With some people every- 
thing that does not fit a preconceived theory is excep- 


36 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


tional. Further still this position contradicts flatly 
Peter’s statement in Acts 2: 39. The above writer contin- 
ues: “There is no hint that the Romans had this particu- 
lar gift. The same is true of other churches.” Let any- 
one who fancies this to be so read Rom. 12: 6-8; 1 Cor. 12: 
7-18, 28-31; Gal.3: 2. (Here Paul refers to a definite, 
conscious experience of the receiving of the Holy Spirit 
as a proof of God’s pleasure with “the hearing of faith”); 
Eph. 1:13, 14; 4:7,11. So far from its being evident 
that “the gift was not intended to be universal or perma- 
nent,” it is evident that it was intended to be universal and 
permanent, and that men do notenter into it simply because 
of their unbelief. It is amazing the number of theories 
that have been proposed to relieve the consciences of 
those who are troubled at the wide gulf between their ex- 
perience and the plain teaching of the Acts of the Apos- 
tles. A better way to relieve the conscience would be to 
find out the conditions and make one’s own this blessed 
experience. 

There is abundant present day experience confirming 
the teaching of the Word along these lines. While many 
have been trying to work out some “subtle” exegetical 
method of “explaining away” the seeming meaning of 
the Bible; others have simply believed it, and know by 
the indisputable proof of experience that a child of God 
may to-day “be baptized with the Holy Spirit,” and that 
he does “ receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come 
upon” him. God grant that the present reader of this 
book may claim this glorious “birthright ” of the chil- 
dren of God for himself. The refining verities of believing 
experience immeasurably transcend the refined subtleties . 
of unbelieving exegesis. 


CHAPTER III 


HOW THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT IS 


OBTAINED 


We have now come toa place where there isa 
deep sense that we must be baptized with the 
Holy Spirit. The practical question confronts 
us: how can we obtain this baptism with the 
Holy Spirit which we so sorely need? This 
question also the Word of God answers very 
plainly and very explicitly. There is pointed 
out in the Bible a path, consisting of seven 
simple steps, which any one who will can take, 
and whoever takes these seven steps will, with 
absolute certainty, enter into this blessing. 
This statement may seem very positive, but the 
Word of God is equally positive regarding the 
outcome of taking these steps which it points 
out. All sevensteps are stated or implied in 
Acts 2:38: “ Repent ye, and be baptized every 
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the 
remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the 


gift of the Holy Ghost.” The first three steps 
37 


38 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


are brought out with especial definiteness and 
distinctness in this verse. The others, which 
are clearly implied in the verse, are brought out 
more explicitly by other passages to which we 
shall refer later. 

1. The first two steps are found in the word 
“repent.” What does “repent ”’ mean? Change 
your mind; change your mind about what? 
About God, about Christ, about sin. As to 
what the change of mind is about in any given 
case must be determined by the context. Here 
the first and most prominent thought is a 
change of mind about Christ. Peter has just 
brought against his hearers the awful charge 
that they had crucified Him whom God had 
made both Lord and Christ. ‘ Pricked in their 
heart” by this charge, carried home by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, his hearers had cried 
out, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 
‘“ Repent,” Peter answered. Change your mind 
about Christ. Change from a Christ-hating and 
Christ-crucifying attitude of mind toa Christ- 
accepting attitude of mind, Accept Jesus as 
Savior, Christ and Lord. This then is the first 
step toward the Baptism with the Holy Spirit: 
Accept Jesus as Savior, Christ and Lord. 
Have you taken this step? Have you accepted 
Jesus as your Savior? Are you relying wholly 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 39 


upon His atoning work for pardon? Relying 
solely upon the fact that He bore your sins, for 
acceptance before God? ( 1Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5: 
21.) There are many professed Christians who 
are not doing this, many who are trying to add 
some works of their own to the finished work of 
Christ, as a ground of acceptance with God. 
But Paul says that we receive the Spirit not 
“by the works of the law,” but by “ the hearing 
of faith.” (Gal. 3:2.) If you have accepted Je- 
sus as your Savior, have you also accepted Him 
as your Christ and Lord? That is, have you 
surrendered the absolute control of your life to 
Him? We will hear more of this further on 
in the fourth step. 

2. The second step is also found in the ; 
word “repent.” While the change of mind 
about Jesus is the first and prominent 
thought, there must also be a change of mind 
about sin. A change of mind from a sin- 
loving or sinzindulging attitude of mind 
to a sinzhating and sin-renouncing attitude 
of mind. This is the second step: renounce sin, 
all sin, every sin. Here we come upon one of 
the commonest obstacles to receiving the Holy 
Spirit—Sin. Something is held on to that in 
our inmost hearts we more or less definitely feel 
to be not pleasing to God. If we are to receive 
the Holy Spirit, there must be very honest and 


40 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


very thorough heart searching. We cannot do 
satisfactory heart searching ourselves, God 
must do it. If we wish to receive the Holy 
Spirit, we should go alone with God and ask 
Him to search us thoroughly and bring to light 
anything that displeases Him. (Ps. 139: 23, 
24.) Then we should wait for Him to: do it. 
When the displeasing thing is revealed, it 
should be put away at once. If, after patient 
and honest waiting, nothing is brought to light, 
we may conclude there is nothing of this kind 
in the way, and proceed to the further steps. 
But we should not conclude this too hurriedly. 
It is not time lost to wait long before God as 
He sends the searching light of His Spirit and 
Word into the innermost recesses of our heart 
and life. It is a painful but salutary process. 
The sin that hinders the blessing may be some- 
thing that appears very small and insignificant 
in itself. Mr. Finney tells of a young woman 
who was in deep concern regarding the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit. Night after night she 
agonized in prayer, but the desired blessing did 
not come. One night as she was in prayer 
there came up before her some matter of head 
adornment that had often troubled her before; 
putting her hand to her head, she took the pins 
out and threw them away, and immediately the 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 41 


blessing came. This was a small matter in 
itself, a matter that would not have appeared to 
many as sin, but yet a matter of controversy 
between this woman and God, and when this 
was settled the blessing came. It may be 
something that you regard as very, very insignifi- 
cant that is shutting you out of the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit. Surely it is not insignifi- 
cant if it is doing that. Whatever the contro- 
versy you have with God, have done with it. 
“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14: 
23), and it matters not how little the thing may 
be, if there are questions regarding it, it must 
be put away, if we are to have the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit. How many have agonized and 
prayedfor the Baptism with the Holy Spirit 
without any result, until the obstructing sin 
was removed and then the blessing came. The 
second step then toward the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit is to put away every sin. 

3. The third step is found in this same 
verse: ‘“ Be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ unto the remission of your sins.” — It 
was immediately after His baptism that the 
Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, (Luke 3: 
21, 22.) In His baptism, Jesus though Him- 
self sinless, humbled Himself to take the sin- 
ner’s place, and then God highly exalted Him 


42 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


by the giving of the Holy Spirit and by the 
audible testimony; “Thou art my beloved son; 
in thee I am well pleased.” So we must hum- 
ble ourselves to make open confession of our 
sin and renunciation of it and acceptance of 
Jesus Christ, in God’s appointed way, by bap- 
tism. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not 
for the one who secretly takes his place as a 
sinner and believer in Christ, but for the one 
who does so openly. Of course, the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit may precede water bap- 
tism; as in the case, of the household of Corne- 
lius. (Acts 10: 47.) But this was evidently an 
exceptional case, and water baptism immediately 
followed. I have little doubt that there have 
been those, among Christians who did not. be- 
lieve in or practice water baptism—as, for exam- 
ple, “ the Friends ” or “ Quakers” —who have had 
and given evidence of the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit, but the passage before us certainly 
presents the normal order. 

4. The fourth step is clearly implied in fae 
verse we have been studying, (Acts 2: 38) but 
it is brought out more explicitly in Acts 5: 82: 
“The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them 
that obey Him.” The fourth step is obedience. 
What does obedience mean? It does not mean 
merely doing some of the things, or many of 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 43 


the things, or most of the things, that God bids 
us do. It means total surrender to the will of 
God. Obedience is an attitude of the will lying 
back of specific acts of obedience. It means 
that I come to God and say: ‘ Heavenly Father, 
here Iam and all I have. Thou hast bought 
me with a price and I acknowledge Thine abso- 
lute ownership. Take me and all I have, and 
do with me whatsoever Thou wilt. Send me 
where Thou wilt, use me as Tliou wilt. I surren- 
der myself and all I possess absolutely, uncon- 
ditionally, forever, to Thy control and use.” It 
was when the burnt offering, whole, no part 
held back, was laid upon the alter that “there 
came forth fire from before the Lord” and 
accepted the gift (Lev. 9: 24); and it is when 
we bring ourselves a whole burnt offering to the 
Lord, and lay ourselves thus upon the altar, 
that the fire comes and God thus accepts the 
gift. Here we touch upon the hindrance to 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit in many lives: 
there is not total surrender, the will is not laid 
down, the heart does not ery: “ Lord, where Thou 
wilt, what Thou wilt, as Thou wilt.” One man 
desires the Baptism with the Holy Spirit that 
he may preach or work with power in Boston, 
when God wishes him in Bombay. Another, 
that he may preach to popular audiences, when 


44 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


God wishes him to plod among the poor, A 
young woman at a convention expressed a 
strong desire that some one would speak on the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit. The address 
went home with power to her heart. She had 
been for some time in deep travail of soul when 
IT asked her what it was that she desired. 
“Oh,” she cried, “I cannot go back to Bal- 
timore until I am baptized with the Holy 
Spirit.” “Is your will laid down?” “TI don’t 
know.” “You wish to go back to Baltimore 
to be a Christian worker?” “Yes.” “Are you 
willing to go back to Baltimore and be a servant 
girl if that is where God wishes you?” “No I 
am not.” ‘Well, you will never get the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit until you are. Will 
you layyour will down??” <SF can’t.’ -s*cAre 
you willing God should lay it down for you?” 
Ves)? 3 Well, then, Sask. Himsto dot. be 
head was bowed in brief but earnest prayer. 
‘Did God hear that prayer?” “He must have, 
it was according to His will; He did.” “Now 
ask Him for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.” 
Again the head was bowed and the brief, earnest 
prayer ascended to God. There was a brief 
silence, and the agony was over, the blessing 
had come—when the will was surrendered. 
There are many who hold back from this total 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 45 


surrender because they fear God’s will. They 
are afraid God’s will may be something dread- 
ful. Remember who God is. He is our Father. 
Neyer an earthly father had so loving and _ten- 
der a will regarding his children as He has toward 
us. “No good thing will He withhold from 
them that walk uprightly.” (Ps. 84:11). “He 
that spared not His own Son, but delivered 
Him up for us all, how shall He not with 
Him also freely give us all things?” There is 
nothing to be feared in God’s will. God’s_ will 
will always prove in the final outcome the best _ 
and sweetest thing in all God’s universe. 

5. The fifth step is found in Jno. 7: 37-89: 
“Jesus stood, and cried, saying, if any man 
thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He 
that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath 
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which 
they that believe on him should receive.” 
There is also a. very suggestive passage in 
Isaiah, the forty-fourth chapter and third verse: 
“T will pour water upon him that is thirsty. . . 
I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed.” Matt.5:6. 
is also closely related to these two passages: 
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” 
What does it mean to thirst? When one thirsts 


46 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


there is but one cry: “ Water! water! water!” 
Kvery pore in the body seems to have a voice 
and cry out “water.” So when our hearts have 
one cry: “the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the 
Holy Spirit,” then it is that God pours floods 
upon the dry ground, pours His Spirit upon us. 
This then is the fifth step—intense desire for 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. To what a 
pitch of longing the early disciples had been 
brought by the tenth day of their eager waiting! 
and their thirsty souls were filled that day when 
“Pentecost was fully come.” As long as one 
thinks he can get along somehow without the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit, as long as he 
casts about for something in the way of ed- 
ucation, or cunningly concocted methods of 
work, to take its place, he is not going to receive 
it. There are many ministers who are missing 
the fulness of power God has for them, simply 
because they are not willing to admit the lack 
there has been all these years in their minis- 
try. It is indeed @ humiliating thing to confess, 
but that humiliating confession would be the 
precursor of a marvellous blessing. But there 
are not a few, who, in their unwillingness to 
make this wholesome confession, are casting 
about for some ingenious device of exegesis to 
get around the plain and simple meaning of 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 47 


God’s Word, and thus they are cheating them- 
selves of that fulness of the Spirit’s power which 
God is so eager to bestow upon them; and 
furthermore, they are imperilling the eternal in- 
terests of the souls that are dependent upon their 
ministrations, that might be won for Christ, if 
they had the power of the Holy Spirit which 
they might have. But there are others whom 
God in His grace brought to see that there was 
a something their ministry lacked, and this some- 
thing nothing less than that all-essential Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit, without which one 
is utterly unqualified for acceptable and effective 
service. They have humbly and frankly con- 
fessed their lack. Sometimes they have been led 
to the God-taught resolution that they would 
not go on in their work until this lack was sup- 
pled. They have waited in eager longing upon 
God the Father for the fulfilment of His prom- 
ise, and the result has been a transformed min- 
istry for which many have risen to bless God. 
It is not enough that the desire for the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit be intense; it must 
also be pure. There is a desire for the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit that is entirely selfish. 
Many a one has an intense desire for the Bap-. 
tism with the Holy Spirit, simply that he may 
be a great preacher, or great personal worker, 


48 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


or renowned in some way as a Christian. It 
is simply his own gain or glory that he is 
seeking. After all it is not the Holy Spirit 
that he seeks, but his own honor, and the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit simply as a means to 
that end. One of the subtlest and most danger- 
ous snares into which Satan leads us, is that 
where we are seeking the Holy Spirit, this most 
solemn of all gifts, for our own ends. The desire 
for the Holy Spirit must not be in order to make 
that sublime and divine Person the servant of 
our low ends, but for the glory of God. It must 
arise from a recognition that God and Christ are 
being dishonored by my powerless ministry and 
by the sin of the people about me, against which 
I now have no power, and that He will be hon- 
ored, if I have the Baptism with the Spirit of 
God. One of the most solemn passages in the 
New Testament bears upon this point. (Acts * 
8-18-24, R. V.) “When Simon saw that 
through the laying on of the Apostles’ hands 
the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them 
money, geying: Give me also this power, that 
orf whomsoever. I lay my hands, he may receive 
the Holy Ghost.” Here was a strong desire on 
Simon’s part, but it was entirely unhallowed 
and selfish, and Peter’s terrific answer is worthy 
of note and meditation. Is there not many a 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 49 


one to-day who, with equally unhallowed and 
selfish purpose desires the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit? Hach one who is desiring and 
seeking the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, 
would do well to ask himself why he desires it. 
If you find that it is merely for your own grati- 
fication or glory, then ask God to forgive you 
the thought of your heart, and to enable you 
to see how you need it for His glory, and to de- 
sire it to that end. 

6. The sixth step is shown in Luke 11:13: “Tf 
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
unto your children, how much more shall your 
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask Him.” The sixth step is to ask. Defi- 
nite asking for a definite blessing. When Christ 
has been accepted as Savior and Master, and 
confessed as such; when sin has been put away; 
when there has been the definite, total surren- 
der of the will; when there is real and holy de- 
sire; then comes the simple act of asking God 
for this definite blessing. It is given in answer 
to earnest, definite, specific, believin prayer. 
we should not pray for the Holy Spirit. They 
reason this out in this way: “The Holy Spirit 
was given to the Church at Pentecost as an 
abiding gift.” This is true, and what was given 


50 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to the Church each believer must appropriate 
for himself. It has been well said on this 
point, that God has already given Christ to the 
world (Jno. 3:16), but that each individual 
must appropriate Him by a personal act to get 
the personal advantage of the gift, and so must 
each individual personally appropriate God’s 
gift of the Holy Spirit to get the personal ad- 
vantage of it. But it is argued still further 
that each believer has the Holy Spirit. This is 
also true in a sense. “If any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Rom. 
8:9.) But as we have already seen, it is quite 
possible to have something, yes much, of the 
Spirit’s presence and work in the heart, and yet 
come short of that special fulness and work 
known in the Bible as the Baptism or Filling 
with the Holy Spirit. In answer to all specious 
reasonings on this subject we put the simple 
statement of Christ: “How much more shall 
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to 
them that ask Him.” Ata convention at which 
the author was announced to speak on this sub- 
ject, a brother said to him: “I see you are to 
speak on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.” 
“Yes.” “It is the most important subject on the 
programme; now be sure and tell them not to 
pray for the Holy Spirit.” “I shall certainly 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 51 


not tell them that; for Jesus said: ‘How much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask Him!” « Oh, but that 
was before Pentecost.” “ How about Acts 4:31? 
Was that before Pentecost or after?” “After it; 
of course.” “Well, read it.” It was read: 
“When they had prayed, the place was shaken 
where they were assembled together, and they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”— “How 
about the eighth chapter of Acts? Was that 
before Pentecost or after?” “ After, of course?” 
“Well, read the fourteenth to the seventeenth 
verses.” The verses were read: “Peter and 
John, when they were come down, prayed for 
them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; 
for as yet He was fallen upon none Ofsihens ins 
and they received the Holy Ghost.” Against all 
inferences is this clear teaching of the Word by 
precept and example, that the Holy Spirit ig 
given in answer to prayer. It was so at Pente. 
cost; it has been so since. Those whom T have 
met who give most evidence of the Spirit’s 
presence and power in their life and work be- 
lieve in praying for the Holy Spirit. It has 
been the author’s unspeakable privilege to pray 
with many ministers and Christian workers for 
this great blessing, and afterward to learn from 
them or from others of the new power that has 


52 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


come into their service, none other than the 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

7. The seventh and last step is found in 
Mark 11:24. “What things soever ye desire, 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and 
ye shall have them.” God’s most positive and 
unqualified promises must be appropriated by 
faith. In Jas. 1:5, we read: “If any of you 
lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth 
to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and 
it shall be given him.” Now, that is cer- 
tainly positive and unqualified enough, but lis- 
ten to what the writer says next: “ But let him 
ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wa- 
vereth is like a wave of the sea driven with 
the wind and tossed. For let not that man 
think that he shall receive anything of the 
Lord.” There must then be faith in order to 
make our own the most positive and unquali- 
fied promises of God, such as that in Luke 
11:13, and Acts 2:38, 39. Here then we dis- 
cover the cause of failure, in many cases, to 
enter into the blessing of the Baptism with the 
Holy Spirit. The failure is because the last 
step is not taken—the simple step of faith. 
They do not believe, they do not confidently 
expect, and we have another instance of how 
men “Entered not in because of unbelief.” 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 53 


(Heb. 4:6.) There are many, very many, who 
are kept out of this land of milk and honey just 
by this unbelief. It should be added that there 
is a faith that goes beyond expectation, a faith 
that just puts out its hand and takes what it 
asks. This is brought out very clearly by thé 
R. V. of Mark 11: 24. “All things whatsoever 


ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have re-_ 


ceived them and ye shall have them.” I re- 
member how greatly I was perplexed by this 
rendering of the R. V. when I first noticed it. 
On examining the Greek of the passage I saw 
that the RV. was correct, but what did it mean? 
It seemed like a singular confusion of the tenses. 
“Believe that ye have (already) received them, 
and ye shall have them.” This seeming enigma 
was solved long after, while studying the First 
Kpistle of John. I read in the fifth chapter, 
fourteenth and fifteenth verses: “This is the 
boldness which we have toward Him, that, if 
we ask anything according to His will, He 
heareth us: and if we know that He heareth us 
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have 
the petitions which we have asked of Him.” (R. 
V.) When I ask anything of God the first 
thing to find out is: is this petition according to 
His will? When that is settled, when I find it 
is according to His will, when, for example, the 


54 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


thing asked is definitely promised in His Word 
—then I know the prayer is heard, and I know 
further, “I have the petition which I have 
asked of Him.” “I know it because He plainly 
says so, and what I have thus appropriated on 
simple, childlike faith in His naked Word ak 
shall have” in actual experience. When one 
who has a clear title to a piece of property deeds 
it to me, itis mine assoon as the deed is prop- 
erly executed and recorded, though it may be 
some time before I enter into the experimental 
enjoyment of it. I have it in the one sense as 
soon as the deed is recorded. I shall have it in 
the other sense later. In like manner, as soon 
as we, having met the conditions of prevailing 
prayer, put up to God a petition for “ anything 
according to His will,” it is our privilege to 
know that the prayer is heard, and that the 
thing which we have asked of Him is ours. 
Now apply this to the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit. I have met the conditions of obtaining 
this blessing already mentioned. I simply, de- 
finitely, ask God, the Father, for the Baptism 
with the Holy Spirit. Then I stop and say: was 
that prayer “according to His will?” Yes, 
Luke 11:13 saysso. “If ye then being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your children, 
how much more shall your heavenly Father give 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 55 


the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Acts 
2: 38, 39 says: “Repent ye, and be baptised 
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you 
is the promise, and to your children, and to all 
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
God shall call unto Him.” (R.V.) It is clear 
that the prayer for the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit is “according to His will,” for it is defi- 
nitely and plainly promised. I know then that 
the prayer is heard, and that I have the petition 
which I have asked of him. (1 Jno. 5: 14, 15, R. 
V.) That is, I have the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit. I have then the right to arise from my 
knees and say, on the all-sufficient authority of 
God’s Word: “I have the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit,” and afterwards I shall have in experi- 
mental enjoyment what I have appropriated by 
simple faith; for God hassaid, and He cannot 
lie, “ All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, 
believe that ye have received them, and ye shall 
have them.” 

Any reader of this book may at this point 
lay it down, and, if Christ has been ac- 
cepted as Savior and Lord, and openly con- 
fessed as such in God’s way, and if sin has been 
searched out and put away, and if there has 
been total surrender of the will and of self to 


56 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


God, and if there isa true desire, for God’s glory, 
to be baptised with the Holy Spirit—if these 
conditions have been met, you may get down 
just now before God, and ask him to baptize you 
with the Holy Spirit, and you can then say, when 
the prayer has gone up: “ That prayer was heard, 
I have what I have asked, I have the baptism 
with the Holy Spirit,” and you have a right to 
get up and go out to your work, assured that in 
that work you will have the Holy Spirit’s power. 
But some one will ask: “ Must I not know that I 
have the Baptism with the Holy Spirit before I 
begin the work?” Certainly, but how shall we 
know? I know of no better way of knowing any- 
thing than by God’s Word. I would believe God’s 

Word before my feelings any ny day. How do we 

deal with an inquirer who has accepted Christ, 
but who lacks assurance that he has eternal life? 
We do not ask him to look at his feelings, but we 
take him to some such passage as Jno. 3:36. We 
tell him to read it and he reads: “He that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” 
‘Who says that? ” we ask. “Godsaysit.” “Is 
ittrue?” “Oh, certainly it is true; God says it.” 
“Who does God say has everlasting life?” “ He 
that believeth on the Son.” ‘ Do you believe on 
the Son?” “Yes,” “What have you then?” 
‘‘O, I don’t know, I don’t feel yet that I have 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 57 


eternal life.” ‘“ But what does God say?” ‘He 
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting lifo.” 
“Are you going to believe God or your fevl- 
ings?” We hold the inquirer right there until 
on the simple, naked Word of God, feeling or 
no feeling, he says: “I know I have eternal life 
because God says so,” and afterwards the feel- 
ing comes. Deal with yourselfin this matter of 
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit just as you 
deal with an inquirer in the matter of assur- 
ance. Le sure you have met the conditions, 
and then simply ask, claim, act. But some one 
will say: “ Will it be just as it was before; will 
therenot besome manifestation?” Mostassured- 
ly there will be some manifestation. “To each 
one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to 
profit withal.” (1 Cor. 12:7, R. V.) But what 
will the character of the manifestation be and 
where shall we see it? It is at this point that 
many make a mistake. They have, perhaps, 
read the life of Mr. Finney or of Jonathan 
Kdwards, and recall how great waves of electric 
emotion swept.over these men until they were 
obligec to ask God to withdraw His hand lest 
they die from the ecstacy. Or they have gone to 
some meeting, and heard testimonies to similar 
experiences, and they expect something like 
this. Now I do not deny the reality of such ex- 


58 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


periences, I cannot. The testimony of such men 
as Finney and Edwards is to be believed. There 
isa stronger reason why I cannot deny them. 
But while admitting the reality of these experi- 
ences, [ would ask, where is there a single line 
of the New Testament that describes any such 
experience in connection with the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit? Every manifestation of the 
Baptism with the Holy Spirit in the New Testa- 
ment was in new power in service. Look, for 
example, at 1 Cor. 12, where this subject is 
treated in the most thorough way, look also at 
Acts 2:4; 4:31; 4:33; 9:17, 22 and note the 
the character of the manifestations mentioned. 
It is quite probable that the Apostles had simi- 
lar experiences to those of Finney and Edwards 
and others, but, if they had, the Holy Spirit 
kept them from recording them. It is well He 
did; for, if they had told of such things, we would 
have looked for these things rather than the 
more important manifestation of power in serv- 
ice. 

But another question will be asked: “ Did not 
the Apostles wait ten days, and may we not have 
to wait?” The Apostles were kept waiting ten 
days, but the reason is given in Acts 2:1: 
“When the Day of Pentecost was now come” 
(literally was being fulfilled, R. VY. Marg.) In 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 59 


the eternal purposes and plans of God, and in 
the Old Testament types, the Day of Pentecost 
was set as the time for the giving of the Holy 
Spirit, and the Spirit could not be given until 
the Day of Pentecost was fully come, but we read 
ofno waiting after Pentecost. In Acts 4:31 there 
was no waiting. “ When they had prayed the 
place was shaken where they were assembled to- 
gether, and they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost.” In Acts 8 there was no waiting. 
When Peter and John came down to Samaria, 
and found that none of the young converts 
had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, they 
“prayed for them, that they might receive the 
Holy Ghost,” and they did then and there. 
(Acts 8: 15, 17). Paul of Tarsus was not 
obliged to wait, in the ninth chapter of the Acts. 
Ananias came in and told him of this wondrous 
gift, and baptized him, and laid his hands upon 
him, and “ straightway in the synagogue he pro- 
claimed Jesus, that He is the Son of God.” 
(Acts 9:17, 20). There was no waiting in Acts 
10. Before Peter had fairly gotten through his 
sermon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit came. 
(Acts 10:44-46; Comp. Chap. 11:15, 16.) In 
the nineteenth chapter of the Acts there was no 
waiting. As soon as Paul had declared to the 
Ephesian disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, 


60 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and the conditions were met, the blessing fol- 
lowed. (Acts 19:1-6.) Men have to wait only 
when they do not meet the conditions, when 
Christ is not fully accepted, or sin is not put 
away, or there is not total surrender, or true 
desire, or definite prayer, or simple faith, 
just taking upon the naked Word. The absence 
of some of these things keeps many waiting 
for more than ten days sometimes. But there 
isno need that any reader of this book wait 
ten hours. You can have the Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit just now, if you will, A 
young man once came to me in great earnest- 
ness about this matter. “I heard of the Bap- 
tism with the Holy Spirit,” he said, “some 
time ago, and have been seeking it, but have not 
received it.” “Is your will laiddown?” “TI 
am afraid that is the trouble.” ‘ Will you lay 
it down?” “Tam afraid I cannot.” .“ Are you 
willing God should lay it down for you?” 
“Yes.” “Ask Him to.” We knelt in prayer, 
and he asked God to lay down his will for him. 
“ Did God hear that prayer?” ‘“ He must have, 
it was according to His will.” “Is your will 
laid down?” “It must be.” “Then ask God 
for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.” He did 
this. “ Was that prayer according to His will? ” 
“Ves.” “Was it heard?” “It must have 


eS ee 


HOW BAPTISM MAY BE OBTAINED 6] 


been.” ‘Have you the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit?” “TI don’t feel it.” “That is not what 
I asked you; read those verses again.” The 
Bible lay open before him at 1 Jno. 5: 14, 15, and 
he read: “ This is the confidence we have in Him 
that, if we ask anything according to His will, 
He heareth us.” ‘Wait a moment; was that 
prayer according to His will?” “It certainly 
was.” “Was it heard?” “It was.” ‘“ Read 
on.” “ And if we know that He hears us whatso- 
ever we ask, we know that we have the petitions 
that we desired of Him.” ‘“ Know what?” “ That 
we have the petitions we desired of Him.” 
“ What was the petition?” “The Baptism with 
the Holy Spirit.” Have you it?” “TI don’t 
feel it, but God says so, and I must have.” A 
few days later I met him again, and asked if he 
really had received what he took on simple 
faith. With a happy look in his face he an- 
swered, “Yes.” I lost sight of him for perhaps 
two years, and then found him preparing for 
the ministry and already preaching, and God 
was honoring his preaching with souls saved, 
and a little later used him with others as a 
means of great blessing to the theological semi- 
nary where he was studying. He had also 
decided to serve Christ in the foreign field. 
What he claimed on simple faith and received, 


62 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


any reader of this book can claim and receive 
in the same way. 


I would not say a word to dissuade men from spending 
much time in waiting upon God in prayer. ‘They that 
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Is. 40: 
31.) There are few of us indeed in these days who spend 
as many hours as we should in waiting upon God. The 
writer can bear joyful testimony to the manifest outpour- 
ings of the Spirit that have come, time and again, as he 
has waited upon God though the hours of the night with 
believing brethren. But there are, I am persuaded, many 
AC for feeling that ought to be claiming by faith. 


CHAPTER IV 


‘“ FRESH BAPTISMS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT,” OR 


THE REFILLING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


In the second chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles, fourth verse, we read: “ They were all 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak,’ 
etc. This was the fulfilment of Acts 1: 5. 
“Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence.” One of those mentioned by 
name as being “filled with the Holy Ghost,’ 
(Acts 2:4,) or “ baptised with the Holy Ghost’ 
(Acts 1:5), at this time was Peter. Turning 
over to the fourth chapter, the eight verse, we 
- read: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, 
said unto them,” etc. Here Peter experienced 
a new filling with the Holy Spirit. Again, in 
the thirty-first verse of the same chapter, we 
read: “ When they had prayed, the place was 
shaken where they were assembled together; 
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” 
Peter is named as one of this company (verses 
19 and 23), so we see that Peter here experi- 


enced a third filling with the Holy Spirit. It is 
63 


64 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


evident that itis not sufficient that one be once 
“baptized with the Holy Spirit.” As new 
emergencies of service arise, there must be new 
fillings with the Spirit. The failure to realize 
this has led to most sad and serious results in 
many aman’s service. He has been baptized 
at some period in his life with the Holy Spirit, 
and strives to get though his whole future life 
in the power of this past experience. It is 
largely for this reason, that we see so many men 
who once unquestionably worked in the Holy 
Spirit’s power, who give little evidence of the 
possession of that power to-day. For each new 
service that is to be conducted, for each new 
soul that is to be dealt with, for each new serv-_ 
ice for Christ that is to be performed, for each — 
new day and each new emergency of Christian 
life and service, we should definitely seek anew _ 
filling with the Holy Spirit. I do not deny 

that there is an “anointing that abideth,” (1 
Jno. 2:27), nor the permanency of the gifts 
that the Holy Spirit bestows; I simply. assert 
with clear and abundant Scripture proof, to say 
nothing of proof from experience and observa- 
tion, that this gift must not be “neglected,” 
(1 Tim. 4: 14) but rather “ kindled anew” or 
“stirred into flame” (2 Tim. 1:6, R. V. Marg.); 
and that repeated fillings with the Holy Spirit 


FRESH BAPTISMS 65 


are necessary to continuance and increase of 
power. Now arises the question, ought these 
new fillings with the Holy Spirit to be called 
“fresh Baptisms with the Holy Spirit?” While, 
on the one hand, it must be admitted that in 
Acts 2:4, the expression, “ filled with the Holy 
Ghost,” is used to describe the experience prom- 
ised in Acts 1:5, in the words: “Ye shall be 
baptized with the Holy Ghost,” and that there- 
fore the two expressions are to this extent syn- 
onymous; on the other hand, it should be no- 
ticed, that the expression, “Baptized with the 
Holy Spirit,” is nowhere used in the Bible of 
any experience but the first, and that, further- 
more, the word “ baptized ” of itself suggests an 
initial or initiatory experience. While, there- 
fore, we stand for the truth that those who 
speak of “fresh baptisms with the Holy Spirit” 
are aiming at, it would seem wisest to follow the 
uniform Bible usage, and speak of the oxperi- 
ences that succeed the first, as being “filled 
with the Holy Spirit,” and not as being “bap- 
tized with the Holy Spirit.” 


CHAPTER V 
HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 


Any discussion of the Baptism with the Holy 
Spirit, and the power which results from it, would 
be incomplete, if attention were not called to the 
fact that spiritual power may be lost. 

One of the strangest and saddest stories of the 
Old Testament history, is that of Samson. It is 
also one of the most instructive. He was by far 
the most remarkable man of his day. The grand- 
est opportunities were open to him, but after 
striking temporary victories, his life ended in 
tragic failure, all through his own inexcusable 
folly. Time and again it is said of him that 
“the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon 
him,” and in the power of that Spirit he wrought 
to the astonishment of his people and the dis- 
comfiture of the enemies of the Lord; but in 
Judges 16:19, 20, we see him deserted of the 
Lord, though unconscious of it, his strength 
gone from him, and he about to be taken into 
wretched captivity, the sport of the godless, and 

66 


HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 67 


to die with the enemies of the Lord a violent and 
dishonored death. 

Unfortunately Samson is not the only man in 
Christian history, who, having once known the 
power of the Holy Spirit, has afterward been 
shorn of this power and laid aside. There have 
been many Samsons, and I presume there will 
be many more—men whom God has once used 
mightily and has afterward been forced to lay 
aside. One of the saddest sights on earth is such 
aman. lLetus consider when itis that the Lord 
departs from a man or withdraws His power from 
him, or in other words, “ How power is lost.” 

1. First of all God withdraws His power 
from men when they go back upon their separaz 
tion to Him. This was the precise case with 
Samson himself. (Judges 16:19, Comp. Num. 
6:2, 5.) His uncut hair was the outward sign 
of his Nazarite vow by which “he separated him- 
self unto the Lord.” The shearing of his hair 
was the surrender of his separation. His separa- 
tion given up he was shorn of his power. It is 
at this same point that many a man to-day is 
shorn of his power. There was a day when he 
separated himself unto God. He turned his back 
utterly upon the world and its ambitions, its 
spirit, its purposes; he set himself apart to God 
as holy unto Him, to be His, for God to take 


68 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


him and use him and do with him what He 
would. God has honored his separation, He has 
anointed him with the Holy Ghost and power. 
He nas been used of God. But Delilah has 
come to him. The world has captured his heart 
again. He has listened to the world’s siren 
voice, and allowed her to shear him of the sign 
of separation. He is no longer a man separated, 
or wholly consecrated, to the Lord, and the Lord 
leaves him. Are there not such persons among 
those who read this? Men and women the Lord 
once used, but He does not use you now. You 
may still be outwardly in Christian work, but 
there is not the old time liberty and power in it, 
and this is the reason—you have been untrue to 
your separation, to your consecration to God; 
you are listening to Delilah, to the voice of the 
harlot, to the world and its allurements. Would 
you get the old power back again? There is but 
one thing todo. Let your hair grow again as 
Samson did. Renew your consecration to God. 

2. Power is lost through the incoming of sin. 
It was so with Saul, the son of Kish. The 
Spirit of God came upon Saul and he wrought 
a great victory for God. (1 Samuel 11:6, ff.) 
He brought the people of God forward to a place 
of triumph over their enemies, who had held 


HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 69 


them under for years. But Saul disobeyed God 
in two distinct instances (1 Samuel 15:18, 14; 
15:3, 9-11, 23), andthe Lord withdrew His favor 
and His power, and Saul’s life ended in utter 
defeat and ruin. This is the history of many 
men whom God has once used. Sin has crept 
in. They have done that which God has told 
them not to do, or they have refused to do that 
which God bade them do, and the power of God 
has been withdrawn. The one who has known - 
God’s power in service, ‘and would continue to 
know it, must walk very softly before Him. He 
must be listening constantly to hear what God 
bids him do or not do. He must respond 
promptly to the slightest whisper of God. It 
would seem as if any one who had once known 
God’s power would rather die than lose it. But 
it is lost through the incoming ofsin. Are there 
those among the readers of this book who are 
passing through this dreadful experience of the 
loss of God’s power? Ask yourself if this be 
the reason; has sin crept in somewhere? Are 
you doing something, some little thing, perhaps, 
that God tells you not todo? Are you leaving 
undone something God bids you do? Set this 
matter right with God and the old power will 
come back. David was guilty of an awful sin, 


70 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


but when that sin was confessed and put away, 
he came to know again the power of the Spirit. 
(Ps, 32:1-5; 51:11-13.) 

If we would continuously know the power of 
God we should go often alone with Him, at the 
close of each day at least, and ask Him to show 
us if any sin, anything displeasing in His sight, » 
has crept in that day, and if He shows us that 
there has, we should confess it and put it away 
then and there. 

3. Power is lost again through self-indul- 
gence. The one who would have God’s power 
must lead a life of self-denial. There are many 
things which are not sinful in the ordinary un- 
derstanding of the word sin, but which hinder 
spirituality and rob men of power. I do not be- 
lieve that any man can lead a luxurious life, 
over-indulge his natural appetites, indulge ex- 
tensively in dainties, and enjoy the fulness of 
God’s power. The gratification of the flesh and 
the fulness of the Spirit, do not go hand in 
hand. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these two 
are contrary the one to the other.” (Gal 5:17.) 
Paul wrote, ‘‘I keep under my body, and bring 
itv into SsubjectionsamGl HCotr.9 21,7806 \ ii ye 
Greek. Note also Eph. 5: 18.) 

We live in a day when the temptation to the 


HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 71 


indulgence of the flesh is very great. Luxuries 
are common. Piety and prosperity not seldom 
go hand in hand, and, inmany a case, the prosper- 
ity that piety and power have brought has been 
the ruin of the man to whom it has come. Not 
a few ministers of power have become popular 
and indemand. With the increasing popular- 
ity has come an increase of pay and of the com- 
forts of life. Luxurious living has come in, and 
the power of the Spirit has gone out. It would 
not be difficult to cite specific instances of this 
sad truth. If we would know the continuance 
of the Spirit’s power, we need to be on guard to 
lead lives of simplicity, free from indulgence 
and surfeiting, ever ready to “ endure hardness, 
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim. 2: 
3.) I frankly confess I am afraid of luxury;— 
not as afraid of it as I am of sin. but it comes 
next as an object of dread. It is very subtle 
but a very potent enemy of power. There are 
devils to-day that “go not out but by prayer 
and fasting.” 

4. Power is lost through greed for money. 
It was through this that a member of the orig- 
inal Apostolic company, the twelve whomJesus 
Himself chose to be with Him, fell. The love 
of money, the love of accumulation, got into the 
heart of Judas Iscariot, and proved his ruin. 


72 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


“The love of money is a root of all kinds of 
evil,” (1 Tim. 6: 10, R. V.) but one of the great- 
est evils of which it is the root is that of the 
loss of spiritual power. How many a man there 
is to-day who once knew what spiritual power 
was, but money began to come. He soon felt 
its strange fascination. The love for accumula- 
tion, covetousness, the love for more, little by Lt- 
tle took possession of him. He has accumulated 
his money honestly; but it has absorbed him, 
and the Spirit of God is shut out and His power 
has departed. Men who would have power, 
need to have the words of Christ. “Take heed 
and beware of covetousness,” writ large and 
graved deep upon their hearts. One does not 
need to be rich to be covetous. A very poor 
man may be very much absorbed in the desire 
for wealth—just as much so as any greedy mil- 
lionaire. 

5. Power is lost through pride. This is the 
subtlest and most dangerous of all the enemies 
of power. I am not sure but that more men 
lose their power at this point, than at any of 
those mentioned thus far. There is many a 
man who has not consciously gone back upon 
his consecration, he has not let sin, in the sense 
of conscious doing of that which God forbade 
or conscious refusal to do that which God com- 


HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST Pe 


manded, creep into his life, he has not given 
way to self-indulgence; he has utterly, persist- 
ently and consistently refused the allurements 
of money accumulation, but still he has failed; 
pride has come in. He has become puffed up 
because of the very fact that God has given him 
power and used him; puffed up, it may be, over 
the consistency and simplicity and devotion of 
his life; and God has been forced to set him 
aside. God cannot use a proud man. (1 Pet. 5: 
5.) “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace 
to the humble.” The man who is puffed up 
with pride, self-esteem, cannot be filled up with 
the Holy Spirit. Paul s:w this danger for him- 
self. God saw it for him, and “lest he be ex- 
alted above measure, through the abundance of 
the revelations, there was given to (him) a 
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to 
buffet (him), lest (he) should be exalted above 
measure.” (2 Cor. 12:7.) How many men 
have failed here! They have sought God’s 
power, sought it in God’s way, it has come. 
Men have testified of the blessing received 
through their word, and pride has entered and 
been indulged, and all is lost. Moses was the 
meekest of men, and yet he failed at this very 
point. ‘“ Must we fetch you water out of this 
rock?” he cried, and then and there God laid 


74 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY LPIRIT 


him aside. (Num. 20:10-12.) If God is using 
us at all, let us get down very low before Him. 
The more he uses us the lower let us get. May 
God keep His own Words ringing in our ears: | 
“Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth 
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” 
(1 Pet. 5:5.) | 

6. Power ts lost through neglect of prayer. 
It is in prayer especially that we are charged 
with the energy of God. Itis the man who is 
much in prayer into whom God’s power flows 
mightily. John Livingston spent a night with 
some Christians in conference and prayer. The 
next day June 21st, 1630, he so preached at the 
Kirk of Shotts, that the Spirit fell upon his 
hearers in such a way that five hundred could 
either date their conversion or some remarkable 
confirmation from that day forward. This is 
but one instance among thousands to show how 
power is given in prayer. Virtue or power is 
constantly going from us, as from Christ (Mark 
5:30), in service and blessing; and if power 
would be maintained, it must be constantly re- 
newed in prayer. When electricity is given off 
from a charged body it must be recharged. So 
must we be recharged with the Divine energy, 
and this is effected by coming into contact with 
God in prayer. Many a man whom God has 


HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 75 


used has become lax in his habits of prayer, and 
the Lord departs from him and his power is 
gone. Are there not some of us who have not 
to-day the power we once had, and simply be- 
cause we do not spend the time on our faces be- 
fore God that we once did? 

7. Power is lost through neglect of the 
Word. God’s power comes through prayer, it 
comes also through the Word (Ps. 1:2, 5; Josh. 
1:8.) Many have known the power that comes 
through the regular, thoughtful, prayerful, pro- 
tracted meditation upon the Word, but busincss 
and perhaps Christian duties have multiplied, 
other studies have come in, the Word has been 
in a measure crowded out, and power has gone. 
We must meditate daily, prayerfully, profound- 
ly upon the Word if we are to maintain power. 
Many a man has run dry through its neglect. 

I think the seven points mentioned give the 
principal ways in which spiritual power is lost. 
I think of no others. If there is one dread that 
comes to me more frequently than any other, it 
is that of losing the power of God. Oh, the 
agony of having known God’s power, of having 
been used of Him, and then of having that 
power withdrawn, to be laid aside as far as any 
real usefulness is concerned. Men may still 
praise you, but God can’t use you. To see a 


76 THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 


perishing world around you and to know there 
is no power in your words to save. Would 
not to die be better than that? I have little 
fear of losing eternal life. Every believer in 
Christ has that already. I am in the hand of 
Jesus Christ, and in the hand of God the Father, 
and no one can pluck me out of Their hand, 
(John 10: 28, 29), but I see so many men from 
whom God has departed, men once eminently 
used of God, I walk with fear and trembling, and 
cry unto Him daily to keep me from the things 
that would make the withdrawal of His power 
necessary. But what those things are I think 
He has made plain to me, and I have tried in 
the words here written to make them plain to 
both you and myself. To sum them up they 
are these: the surrender of our separation, sin, 
self-indulgence, greed for money, pride, the 
neglect of prayer, and the neglect of the Word. 
Shall we not, by God’s grace, from this time be 
on our guard against these things, and thus 
make sure of the continuance of God’s power in 
our life and service until that glad day comes 
when we can say with Paul: “I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,” 


Ti HOW SPIRITUAL POWER IS LOST 


(2 Tim. 4:7, 8), or better yet with Jesus, “I 
have glorified Thee on the earth, having accom- 
plished the work which Thou hast given me to 
oun (el nO. eee by. V.) 


FINIS. 


The Holy Spirit. 
LOD 


The Ministry of the Spirit. By Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.vD. 
Introduction by Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A, 12mo, oy ee 
LOPS cccin’e opis eines scl elejeislerelecls ote l sie sleleisieleielelessia/eie AO atic RO Oo «+ $I.00 

° “Dr. Gordon’s last book, ‘ The Ministry of the Spirit,’ was 
published on the day of his death. It fitly completes the noble 
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convictions upon a matter which had engrossed his thought for 
many years. In depth of spiritual insight we doubt if it is 
surpassed by any work on this topic.”— The Watchman. 


Through the Eternal Spirit. A Bible Study on the Holy Ghost. 
By Rev. J. Elder Cumming, D.D. Introduction by Rev. F. B 
meyer B. A. New cheap edition. 12m0, cloth............ 1.50 

‘“My object has been to present the whole teaching of 
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so that all may find here not only the conclusions come to by 
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Second edition, 1OM0, ClOtN........eeseceees ++  secveces a iis 
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The Holy Spirit in Life and Service. Addresses delivered before 
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1894. Introduction by Rev. A. C. Dixon. 12mo. cloth..... ae 75 
Received Ye the Holy Ghost? By J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D. 
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get it? By Rev. B. Fay Mills. 16mo, Popular Vellum Series, .20 
heaper style, net, 10C.; per COZEM.....-.seecesoesecvens net, 1.00 
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